Kevin Gilbride: Giants offensive line made it impossible for Eli Manning to function

During an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio via the Newark Star-Ledger, former Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride was pretty open about this season and blamed the offensive line for quarterback Eli Manning’s down year.

“We had been concerned about depth in the offensive line for a while now.” He added that the problems along the offensive line “made it impossible for (Eli Manning) to function. … You give him help and he’s proven he can win a championship.”

Gilbride is completely right. No NFL quarterback can be effective with a line that can’t pass block.

About Paul Jackiewicz

Undoubtedly spot on. Colossal disaster. But too many are quick to blame it all on Reese, and that’s not right. When FA David Baas was signed away from the 49ers, he was the highest ranked Center available, and had only missed 1 game after being drafted in the 2nd round. He gets to the Giants, and he’s a physical disaster… neck, back, knee, migraines, etc. and operations to fix a multitude is ailments on IR, missing on average 6 games a season. Reese could not have foreseen that. RG Chris Snee’s health fell off a cliff… the 4 time pro bowler was referred to by center Sean O’Hara as the heart and soul of the line, and the guy the rest of the line took their cues off of… the guy John Madden once referred to as one of the best Guards in all of football. Hip operation, plays, goes on IR for the other hip to be operated on… can barely walk. Reese signed LT Beatty to a big contract, and in 2013 he played like he just signed a big contract and didn’t have to work so hard anymore. What is on Reese is David Diehl, once a versatile LT/LG/RG/RT was rated by PFF in 2011 as the worst player… at any position… in all the NFL, in the HISTORY of PFF grading, and that was before 2013 when he might have actually played even worse. He should have been gone already. What’s also on Reese is poor draft performance especially in the mid rounds… trading up in the 4th round to take a QB who Reese said he never intends to see the field is the equivalent of planning to get zero production, when he knew his other projects behind the O-line starters, like Brewer, Mosley, and Cordle, were not cutting it. Reese did draft 1st round Justin Pugh this season, and he started out shaky as you’d expect, but finished strong at RT. Stand up Eli behind that mess, and he was doomed to have one of the worst seasons of his career. Reese can recover in 2014 if he gets Greg Robinson with the 12th, and La’el Collins with the 43rd… he’ll have snagged two starting O-linemen on day 1 and he’ll pay HALF for BOTH, combined, of what he’d pay for just ONE starter quality FA O-lineman (consider Justin Pugh’s $1.8M APY 2014 CAP hit, as opposed to David Baas’ $8M APY 2014 CAP hit). With 23 FAs on the Giants roster, Reese needs all the CAP he can clear.